Erase
by markmark261
Summary: Clark must unleash his power on the population of Smallville in order to protect his identity in this four-part future-historic time-travel crossover fic.
1. Brilliant Disguise

Disclaimer: All characters are copyright DC Comics.

**_Erase_**

_**Chapter One – Brilliant Disguise**_

This was Clark's final morning living in Smallville, but, before he went, there were a few last minute details to sort out. Martha Kent looked at Clark as he tried on the outfit she'd designed.

"Thought of a name yet?" she asked, but Clark was too busy admiring himself in the mirror to notice her. She repeated the question, this time tugging on his cape to attract his attention.

"Oh, I don't know … I was thinking of .. well it was kind of Pete's idea … Superman. Although I'm having second thoughts – it seems slightly immodest."

"Well, I think it's perfect," she lied (she was after all his mother and thought Superman didn't really do him justice – she would have gone for at least Superduperman). "Oh, one last thing. You'll need a disguise."

She passed him a glasses case. Clark opened it expecting to find a mask of some type, but instead found a pair of glasses.

"Try them on," she said eagerly.

An unenthusiastic Clark tried on the glasses, just to please his mother.

"Wow, that's amazing," was her awestruck reaction. "You look completely different."

Clark smiled at Martha – she was obviously playing a joke on him. And then he saw a mild-mannered stranger looking back at him from the mirror. Clark was speechless. The transformation was unbelievable – the glasses changed his look far more than any mask ever could. They would be the perfect disguise

There was just one problem …

"But everyone in Smallville's seen me without my glasses …" he said, passing the glasses back to Martha.

"Well, durr," reasoned Martha, smacking him on the forehead with her empty palm (which hurt her infinitely more than it hurt her invulnerable son). "Clark, you're not thinking straight. It's blindingly obvious."

After a few seconds of Clark gazing at her blankly, Martha explained the blindingly obvious to him.

"Oh, I see," Clark said, nodding. "In that case, I guess I'll just take your glasses."

* * *

Months later, in Metropolis, Clark wished, for what felt like the millionth time, that he'd just hurt his mother's feelings rather than going along with her idea of a disguise (no matter how effective it was). As he saw the giant S symbol appear in the sky (the signal watch that he'd given Jimmy Olsen was still in its prototype stage), Clark rushed to an empty storage room, pulled his shirt open to reveal his costume's S symbol and, with his right hand, grabbed hold of his glasses … and put them on.

As he flew off, through an open window, into the sky, he heard the familiar shouts from down below…

"Look! Up in the sky!"

"It's a nerd!"

"It's a brain!"

"It's Superman!"


	2. Whatever's Happened To The Men Of Tomorr...

**_Chapter Two – Whatever's Happened To The Men Of Tomorrow?_**

It was many years later and Superman was flying towards yet another encounter with his arch-foe Luthor, when suddenly, in the blink of an eye, everything changed. Superman was no longer flying, but standing in the middle of Metropolis, surrounded, as far as the eye could see, by Supermen. What was happening? Was this yet another fiendish plot of Lex's? And then he realized that none of the Supermen were wearing glasses - they looked just like Clark Kent, give or take a kiss curl. He looked at the Supermen in horror - his secret identity was being revealed to the world.

At the same time, the other Supermen noticed him and looked at him in horror. What was he wearing his Clark Kent glasses for? Was he some sort of idiot?

Before Superman knew what was happening a red and blue flash appeared before his eyes and his glasses had disappeared. The next thing he knew Dr. Virgil Swann was standing in front of him in a Superman outfit.

"Dr. Swann. You can walk? And you're younger?"

"I can see that you're confused, Superman. I better explain... But first take a closer look at the Supermen here."

Superman (or rather Clark, for he no longer wore his identity-protecting glasses) looked around at the other Supermen. Now that his initial panic had subsided, he noticed that, while the other Supermen bore a resemblance to him, they were all slightly different. Some were taller, some were shorter, some were younger, some were older, and, most importantly of all, he had the best hair. "They're all different. Who are they?" he asked the man who he thought was Virgil Swann.

The reply came in a super-whisper that only Clark and the assorted Supermen with their super-hearing would be able to hear. "They're you. They're me. They're Clark Kent, Superman. As unbelievable and contrived as this sounds, we've been brought here from different times in different parallel Universes (or from different places in Hyper-Time as the local Superman put it) by a fifth-dimensional imp called Mxyzptlk." The Superman who looked like Virgil Swann pointed towards a short bowler-hatted individual in the sky who was fighting yet another Superman.

One of the on-looking Supermen was about to mention that Mxyzptlk had black hair and a beard but managed to restrain himself (he was just thankful that HG Wells wasn't behind it as he'd first feared). Another square-jawed Superman resisted the urge to point out that it was actually pronounced Mxyz**tp**lk.

"Here, you better hide these while you're here." Superman handed Clark back his glasses. "The local Superman, and every other Superman except you it seems, only wears the glasses when they're Clark Kent."

"So how long are we stuck here?"

"Until the local Superman works out a way to get Mxyzptlk to say his name backwards. Don't worry, he'll think of something - he always does. Maybe he'll ask him to do his Zatanna impression."

"Great, so what do we do in the meantime?" asked Clark.

"Mingle."

* * *

An hour of mingling later, and Clark was to be found moaning to yet another unsympathetic Superman: 

"... So, whereas on other worlds Clark wore glasses as a teenager to hide his Superboy identity (or just disappeared to the arctic for ten years), on my world that never happened so it was Superman that ended up wearing the glasses. On my world, Lois is in love with Clark, but thinks Superman's just some ostentatious alien geek."

"So, what's the problem? All you've got to do is reveal to her that Clark Kent's Superman," reasoned the latest unsympathetic Superman.

"I tried that, but she refuses to believe it. Now she spends all of her time trying to prove that Clark Kent and Superman are different people... Hey, where are you going?"

"I'm off to find some kryptonite."

* * *

Another hour of mingling later, and Clark found himself back with the Virgil Swann lookalike. First they had a conversation about super-powers, where Clark found that the lookalike had all sorts of weird powers, such as time travel, that he'd never have even thought possible. Then the lookalike produced a drawing pad with a pencil tied to it. 

"You might find this interesting, Superman. I've been getting all the other Supermen to use their super-artistry to produce photographic likenesses of their family and friends."

Clark flicked through the pad, and stopped on one of the pages. "Boy, this Lois Lane is gorgeous, but how come Jimmy Olsen changes from one picture to the next?" He flicked to another page. "Who's this? She looks like that girl off Seaquest."

"Apparently that's Lana Lang," replied the Virgil Swann lookalike.

"She's okay, but she's not Lana Lang. This IS Lana Lang," replied Clark, taking the pencil, and, within seconds, capturing the likeness of his childhood sweetheart.

He showed the picture to the other Superman. "Is she hot or what?"

"You think that's hot?" The lookalike grabbed the pad and pencil off Clark. "Wait until you see my Lana."

The lookalike heard one word as he showed off his masterpiece to Clark:

"Kltpzyxm!"


	3. 2020 Vision

_**Chapter Three – 2020 Vision**_

The year was 2020.

Ever since he'd left the land of the many Supermen, Clark Kent had been having sleepless nights. It would start with the recurring dream where Lana, in the middle of a tender moment with him, would suddenly morph into his mother Martha. This would cause Clark to suddenly wake up, with a mixture of revulsion and more revulsion, and then, for the longest time, he'd try to get back to sleep - but his mind wouldn't let him. It was too busy remembering what the Virgil Swann Superman had said; it was too busy pondering the same question that had been asked by the great intellects of the past (Newton, Einstein, Gödel, Cher) - what if he could turn back time?

The sad thing was that Clark knew instantly what he'd do - no matter how much it would change the future he had to do it. The question was "When?" - after all, with time travel there was no need to rush. As Clark struggled and struggled in vain to get back to sleep (mentally counting sheep and, when that didn't work, speeding bullets) he decided that tonight was the night. Taking the package he'd prepared, putting his glasses on and changing into his costume he opened the window and, faster than the eye could see, soared off into the night sky.

As he circled round and round the globe, the night became day became night became day became ... and then he was going so fast that night and day were flickering before his eyes. As he looked down with his telescopic vision at the stroboscopic world below, he saw everything slow down and then freeze and then, ever so slowly, start to go backwards. It was working - he couldn't believe it. As he went faster and faster so did the time reversal. Superman watched history fold below him - within minutes he'd literally been going round and round in circles for the whole of his adult life. He saw himself moving from Metropolis to Smallville, Luthor turning from evil to good, from his enemy to his friend, Pete Ross undiscovering his secret, a war giving birth to Whitney (if only all wars could have been in reverse), and finally a car leaping out of a river to leave Clark deposited on a bridge. It was 2001 - time for his travels to finish (or start, to be strictly chronological about it). As Superman slowed down he saw young Clark walking rapidly away from the bridge backwards, then slow down, stop and start walking back towards the bridge.

Superman landed in a nearby cornfield and changed into Clark. Then he set off to the bridge - by his calculations he'd get there just ahead of the younger Clark.

* * *

When the younger Clark Kent reached the bridge he was surprised to find the older Clark Kent waiting for him. The older Clark had been preparing for this moment for a long time, whereas the younger Clark hadn't been expecting it at all, but once they saw each other there was only one thing they could say - they couldn't help themselves, it just had to be said:

"Nice hair!" they said in unison, and then both nodded in agreement.

"I've been standing on this bridge, waiting for you, Clark. I knew that you'd be here by now," explained the older Clark.

"You can call me Kal," added the older Clark, deciding it was safest to keep his true identity secret from his younger self.

The younger Clark was puzzled. How did this Kal know his name - Clark had never seen him before. But then, slowly, recognition dawned as he recognized the face of the strange visitor - it was an older version of himself. There was only one rational explanation - this man was his true father. A mixture of emotions welled up inside Clark.

"I know who you are. Why have you come back now?" asked the younger Clark, who appeared as emotionless on the outside as he was stunned on the inside.

The older Clark was impressed that his younger self had worked out who he was so quickly. Sometimes he amazed himself.

"Well, if you've figured out who I am, then you probably also know that I want to get out of here with the minimum of interference - after all, time's precious. Once I've done what I came here to do I'll be back to my own life and leave you in peace."

The younger Clark Kent listened aghast. His father had returned and now he was going away again.

The older Clark continued. "To answer your question, I've come back now because this is about the latest I thought I could leave it - just before a young man called Lex runs into you for the first time. Take these. You'll need to use them from now on." He handed his younger self a glasses case.

The younger Clark looked disbelievingly at the glasses case, and then, opening it, looked even more disbelievingly at the glasses inside. His father had returned after all this time just to give him these?

The older Clark saw the look on the younger Clark's face and put a hand on his shoulder. "Trust me - you've got to do this. It's either this or go to the arctic for ten years. Anyway, I've got to go now - I don't plan to spend a second longer here than is absolutely necessary."

With that, the older Clark started to walk away.

"But wait," shouted the younger Clark, "I've got so many questions."

"I know," was the older Clark's only reply, but then he stopped and turned back to face the younger Clark. "Wait, I forgot, there's something even more important that I've got to tell you."

The younger Clark listened intently - all he wanted now was for his father to tell him that he loved him, was that too much to ask. Apparently it was.

"If someone in the same outfit as you asks you look at some drawings in their pad, just make your excuses and leave," were the words of cryptic wisdom from the older Clark. Hopefully it would save his younger self from the recurring dreams that he'd been having.

The younger Clark looked blankly at the older Clark as he turned away yet again and started running towards a cornfield. "Wait," shouted the younger Clark, helpful to the last, "there are no roads that way."

But it was too late, his father wouldn't hear him.

* * *

As the older Clark's super-hearing heard the words, and as he changed into his Superman outfit hidden by the ears of corn, and as his legs left the ground, he thought "Roads? Where we're going, Clark, we don't need roads."

And then it was time to go back to the future, his future. One of the Supermen he'd chatted to in the land of Supermen had told him that time travel would only create an alternate timeline, not change his present, and he hoped that this was the case. Anyway, there was only one way to find out. He flew round the globe in the opposite direction to previously and, just as before, time changed its course, and things slowed down and started going backwards. Superman went through numerous Kryptonian oaths as he realized that time travel was a one way process - he'd never get back to the future. No wonder that other Jor-El had told that other Superman not to interfere with history.

As he came back down to Earth with a bump, Superman's only consolation was that today, in some small way, he'd no doubt improved the other Clark Kent's life for the better. Admittedly, he wouldn't be as popular in high school with the glasses (and that threesome with Lana and Chloe was probably now totally out of the question), but, in the long run, Clark would thank him.

* * *

The young Clark stood on the bridge staring out at the river, still feeling numb from his encounter with his "father". Not only did his father want nothing to do with him, but he also appeared to be insane. With the glasses case safely zipped up in his pocket, Clark held the glasses out in front of him and looked at them, the numbness inside him slowly turning to hurt, confusion, and regret. As he sank deeper and deeper into self-pity and tears welled up in his eyes, Lex managed to snap him out of his introspection with the aid of his car.

Seconds later, Clark was underwater. As he saw his glasses float off in one direction and Lex sitting in his submerged car in the other direction, he had to make a choice of what to save - the glasses or Lex. The choice was, of course, obvious.


	4. Drastic Measures

_**Chapter Four – Drastic Measures**_

Clark's final morning living in Smallville found him lost in adoration as he gazed at the superhero looking back at him from the mirror. A good one percent of this was due to the costume itself in all its red and blue glory, but the thing that really captured his eye was the kiss curl he'd added to his hair - who said perfection couldn't be improved upon.

He'd been marvelling at his kiss curl for several minutes, oblivious to the outside world, when, suddenly, he felt his cape being tugged.

"Thought of a name yet?" asked Martha.

Clark told Martha that he was thinking of Superman (although he didn't really think it did him justice - he was hoping his mother would have the sense to talk him up to at least Superduperman).

"Well, I think it's perfect," replied Martha, much to Clark's disappointment. "Oh, one last thing. You'll need a disguise."

She passed him a glasses case - a glasses case he'd seen before. In a state of confusion, he opened it to find the glasses that he'd been expecting. They were similar to the glasses that he'd lost in the river all those years ago - that day when he'd rescued Lex for the first time.

"Try them on," said Martha, and Clark, in a state of shock, did just that.

"Wow, that's amazing. You look completely different," observed Martha, but Clark wasn't listening - his mind was on other things. Slowly he realized why Kal had given him the glasses all those years ago.

"Everyone in Smallville's seen me without my glasses …" he reasoned aloud, "I'll have to wear the glasses as Superman."

"Of course you will. I thought that was kind of obvious," replied Martha, who was actually amazed that Clark had, for once, grasped the obvious so quickly. For a minute she'd been afraid that she would have to hurt her hand by smacking him on the forehead - a habit she'd picked up off Jonathan who, now that his son was fully invulnerable, would hammer his platitudes home on Clark's head with a display reminiscent of the Three Stooges.

* * *

With Martha gone, Clark looked for the glasses case that the stranger called Kal had handed him those many years ago. The last time he'd seen it was on the day he'd been given it, so it took him a while to find it (almost a second).

It had been a few months since he'd thought about Kal. At first he'd thought Kal was his father but, as time wore on, and he'd learned that Kal was his own name, he'd finally jumped to the right conclusions about his future self. But by then it was too late - everybody knew what he looked like without his glasses. He was just glad that he'd followed his future self's other advice all those months ago - who knows what peril it had saved him from.

As Clark sat there, holding the glasses case that Kal had given him in one hand and the same glasses case from Martha in the other, he suddenly wished that he'd taken himself more seriously all those years ago. As he looked with his X-ray vision at the glasses cases, only one of which contained glasses, he suddenly noticed something - a secret compartment, containing a note, inside the empty glasses case. Maybe there was still hope. Within nanoseconds, Clark was reading the note.

_Dear Clark_

_The fact that you're reading this note suggests that you've discovered your X-ray vision by now. Hopefully, you've also been wearing those glasses for some time. Trust me, it's for the best in the long run - you've no idea what derision it will save you from in the future - and you don't want to know, believe me._

_Your biggest fan_

_Kal_

_P.S. Just in case you didn't heed my warning, there is another possible solution ..._

Clark read the rest of the letter but couldn't believe it - what Kal was proposing was unbelievable, unthinkable - but it had to be done.

* * *

A few nights' later and Superman had just made his first appearance in Metropolis, without glasses. The first people to hear the news and make the Clark/Superman connection were the people at The Daily Planet - and, as soon as they had done, Clark dealt with them. First Lois, then Perry, then Jimmy. The wipeout had begun. It was Smallville's turn next.

Superman used his telescopic vision and super-hearing to eavesdrop from above on the people of Smallville as the news about Superman slowly filtered in from the outside world. Whenever anyone made the Clark/Superman connection he'd swoop down, unleash his power on them, and then return to his vigil high above. Systematically, he worked his way through the people of Smallville, constantly reducing the number of people who could connect Clark to Superman. He didn't enjoy the task - especially dealing with the young and old - and tried to make each silencing as swift as possible (although, he had to admit, he'd taken a certain delight in dealing with Chloe, stretching it out a lot longer than was strictly necessary). Eventually, there was only one weak link left to remove - Lex.

* * *

As he finally caught up with the news, after days and days of meetings, Lex couldn't believe it. Clark had become a superhero and didn't even have the smarts to wear a disguise. What was he thinking? Lex settled down for a good night's sleep - with the riddle of Clark finally solved there was nothing to keep him awake.

The Man of Steel slowly walked up to Lex's sleeping form, but then, suddenly, Lex awoke. Lex stared in amazement at Superman. "This can't be happening."

"Quiet, Lex. Just relax. This won't take long, I promise."

And following those words, Superman's lips met Lex's. Lex was stunned - the same dream twice in a row - what were the odds?

* * *

Clark, wearing the glasses he'd have to wear from now on, walked out to the figure he'd spotted in a cornfield during his Smallville vigil.

"You looked like you were having fun," observed the figure.

Clark grimaced. "So, Kal, what are you still doing here? I thought you'd have gone back to the future."

"I am going back to the future. Just a lot slower than I anticipated."

"What? You've been sitting in this cornfield all these years?"

"No, I got out of this kryptonite-infested backwater as soon as I could - I'm surprised Jonathan and Martha never did the same. I just came back to see if my plan worked."

"I swear I'll never kiss another person again as long as I live," groaned Clark, wiping his lips.

"Well, it seemed to work. I must admit that when that Virgil Swann lookalike told me he got Lois to forget that Clark Kent and Superman were the same person just by kissing her I wasn't sure if he was kidding or not. Anyway, at least it gave you one final excuse to smooch with Lana."

"There was no need - she never made the connection."

Kal looked surprised.

"The kiss curl fooled her," explained Clark.

Kal didn't look the least bit surprised.

"Anyway, look on the bright side. Your future looks a lot rosier than mine ever did," said Kal, waving a copy of the latest Daily Planet at Clark. He proceeded to read from it. "_Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound_ - that's what Lois Lane's written about you - she never wrote anything like that about my Superman - she never gave me a second glance. Speeding bullets, powerful locomotives, tall buildings - it doesn't take Freud to work out what she thinks about you."

Clark blushed.

"If that makes you blush, I won't mention that night at the toga party," said Kal, a gleam in his eye as he remembered what had happened.

"Oh that toga party ... a few months ago - when Lana asked me back to her place saying that she and Chloe had wicked designs. Fortunately, I remembered what you said."

"What I said?" asked a confused Kal.

"She was in the same outfit as me and she wanted to take me back to her pad to see some drawings, so I made my excuses and left. A shame really because I missed the food. Pete kept telling me the next day what a great sandwich Lana and Chloe made."

Kal looked at his open palm and wondered which of his foreheads to smack it against. Sometimes Clark Kent was his own worst enemy.

"Actually that advice was for a day in the future," he explained, "a day I keep wishing I could forget. A day that haunts me even more than the rest of my time as Superman. If only ... Clark, where are you going?"

"I'm off to find some kryptonite."

"No wait, Clark. I need your help. What I was going to say was ... if only there was a way I could forget that I was Superman."

He looked at Clark, smiled and puckered his lips.

"Come on, Clark. You know you want to."

THE END


End file.
